Hatley says he was “unbelievably impressed” by prop Mako Vunipola’s performance against the Wallabies in his first start at the World Cup after a hamstring injury.

“He continues to go from strength to strength,” said Hatley. “And he needs to because Ellis Genge and Joe Marler have been ferocious in training and everyone’s putting the pressure on.

“We’ve talked before about this team of 31 and everyone’s doing their part but Mako, when he plays well like he did, is a real force.

“Without sounding massively blase about it, I wasn’t surprised at the performance he turned in, but I can understand why people outside of our group would look at it and go ‘that’s a hell of a performance’.”

England coach Eddie Jones is set to name his team to face the All Blacks on Thursday.